Five Tipperary clubs have been thrown out of their divisional intermediate hurling championship for refusing to play without players involved in the county’s senior football panel.
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One club representative said that the “euphoria” surrounding Tipp’s historic All-Ireland SFC quarter-final victory over Galway has been severely dampened by the controversy.
As a group, the county players involved met and decided that they would not line out in club fixtures last weekend, in order to give themselves the best possible chance of being ready for Tipp’s date with Mayo on 21 August, while also minimising the risk of potential injury.
But local fixtures-makers took a dim view of their stance and expelled Rockwell Rovers, Golden-Kilfeacle, Arravale Rovers and Lattin-Cullen Gaels from the West IHC, while also handing down fines and insisting that any reasonable vouched expenses incurred by the opposition be covered.
Furthermore, Shannon Rovers have been thrown out in the North. Rovers player George Hannigan is a key midfielder with the senior footballers and has also played intermediate hurling with Tipperary in the past.
Although the games in question fell outside of the 13-day rule that can invoked by county team managers in relation to the use of their players, club officials insist that some leeway should have been afforded to them, given the fact that Tipp’s senior footballers are preparing for a first All-Ireland semi-final in 81 years.
Rockwell Rovers have Alan Moloney on the Tipp panel, while Golden-Kilfeacle are represented by starting player Josh Keane and Shane O’Connell.
Aherlow’s Mark Hanley, whose club is amalgamated with Lattin-Cullen, has been seeing game time off the bench for Tipp while Ciarán McDonald is also clubmate of Hanley’s, although more of a footballer at club level.
And the Arravale Rovers trio of Shane Leahy, Donough Leahy and Niall O’Donovan were subs for the victory over Galway at Croke Park.
Without playing the quarter-finals, the semi-final pairings have now been confirmed for August 20, a day before the football semi-final at Croke Park with Galtee Rovers against Cappawhite and Cashel against Sean Treacys listed as a double-bill in the West.
The four clubs expelled are up in arms and it’s also understood that the situation affects Moyle Rovers in the South and north outfit Shannon Rovers.
Moyle Rovers have captain Peter Acheson, full-back Alan Campbell, sub-goalkeeper Ciarán Kenrick and back-up midfielder Martin Dunne on the county senior football panel, while Shannon Rovers are represented by midfielder George Hannigan.
The clubs involved fear that the hard-hitting measures imposed by the divisional boards will only heighten the tensions between the hurling and football fraternities in the Premier County.
The players’ decision not to line out at club level was backed by the respective clubs, who informed the divisions that they would not be fulfilling fixtures without them.
Margaret Russell, secretary of Lattin-Cullen Gaels, explained: “It was a postponement that we wanted. The euphoria of last Sunday wasn’t long about going down.”
Interestingly, former Waterford selector Pat Bennett, who remains involved in the current Déise backroom staff, is guiding the fortunes of Lattin Cullen Gaels.
Father of current Waterford stars Stephen and Shane, Bennett admitted that the impasse has left him “very cross”.
He said: “I’m very cross, for the simple reason that it was putting the player (Hanley) in an awful situation. His head was all over the place.
“Would this happen to the (Tipperary) senior hurlers? Would it happen to Seamie Callanan and these guys? We want to give it the best shot we can give it but in Waterford, we would never be asked to play a championship game without our county players.
“Our own club, Ballysaggart, are into a junior B football semi-final after fielding a team for the first time in 20 years but we had a game postponed three times because we wouldn’t play without Shane and Stephen.”
